Monthly Archives: April 2016

We had our own BAB a few weeks ago (my primary fermentation is almost done, just a few more days before the crash begins), but the AHA celebrates National Homebrew Day this year on May 7th. Joe’s leading a BIAB demo at our favorite spot. Bring a friend, bring some homebrew, and join us! Check out the details here.

The BAB was a great success! We managed to brew ~20 gallons of beer and that wort is happily fermenting away. We brewed a pale, yellow, fizzy beer with high wetness factor that should go well with heat, humidity, and bbq. We split the 20 gallons 4 ways with Peed taking 10 gallons and Daniel taking the other 10 gallons.

Some stats on the system. Measuring volumes was very spotty but I calculated that we hit a mash efficiency of 85%. My preboil volume and gravity were both above calculated values. The boil was quite anemic so I didn’t boil off nearly as much volume as I expected. This put us at 1.041 SG (v. 1.040 calculated). We left nearly 2 gallons of wort in the kettle as far as I could tell. If I had to do it again I would pump out of the kettle, not use gravity.

The BAB is one of the recurring events for our club. This year we’re using the club’s 20 gallon system to brew a pale yellow lager. Since this beer gets poured at one of the other recurring club events, the pig roast in the middle of summer, we’re targeting something a little more sessionable and refreshing for a hot day. The plan is to try 3 different lager yeasts and 2 different temperature profiles.

Show up at Graham’s house on Saturday and bring a chair, a cup, some snacks and homebrew to share. We’ll have brats for lunch.

Registration for Homebruin VI is officially open for all judges, stewards, and entrants. You can register HERE.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. If you’ve never submitted your beer to a homebrew competition, or if it’s been a while, there is a PDF available on our website that walks through the basics.